Monday, February 28, 2005

if anyone was unsure, yes, i am still alive.

now to answer the question: pretty close. five minutes away, to be exact. i was with friends celebrating D and A's engagement. we all had a big homecooked dinner with plenty of wine. we had planned on going out and really celebrating. we had finished dessert and the wine was done, so the only thing left to do was go out and enjoy ourselves. then a phone call, a "what?!", and then the ambulances. over and over again. news. phone calls. sirens. helicopters. messages. relief. jokes. uneasy laughter. political commentary. speculations. the uneasy desire to hold someone; anyone. finally wearing out. going home. some more phone calls.

that's pretty much what it all was. it's a bit odd to think that had the bomb gone off, say, 20 minutes later we would have likely been walking right past the place. i've passed the spot a hundred times.

besides all that, it's nice being back. especially with the excellent weather. plenty of work to get done now.

Monday, February 21, 2005

so i'm back in tel aviv. the flight consisted of a child who alternated between adorably clutching my arm and not so adorably kicking me. i've also realized that being a vegetarian on a plane attracts a lot of attention because you 1) get your food first 2) your food is generally better tasting and more asthetically pleasing and 3) because since youre the only one with food you will be talked about, to, and over regarding your meal. still, the only real complaint is that there is always (really, every fucking time) somebody standing over me while i'm sleeping and carrying on a conversation at what must be a ridiculously high volume. the worst part may be that they obviously are only having this conversation because they have nothing else to do. well, here's something they could do, sit in their own seats quietly and let me sleep. i mean, my leg is already asleep from the kicking, why not let the rest of my body follow?

still, it's better than Tower.

in other exciting news...i have a plan. yes, really, a plan. one with dates. it's amazing. georgetown has a joint MA program in security studies with a law degree that i really like. so i now have to be in london in july so i can get back to new york in august to take an LSAT course, take the test in october, apply early admissions to georgetown, then get back to writing my thesis.

yup. there it is. pretty mundane when it's written down, but i'm pleased with it. i'm a bit annoyed that i now have to move my london plans back a month, and i'd like more LSAT time, but i think 2 months should do it. i'll ask around and see what people say.

Friday, February 04, 2005

"But more important than any of these was the vast, accretive weight of small things, from planes which hadn't crashed to men and women who had come to the correct place at the perfect time and thus founded generations. He saw kisses exchanged in doorways and wallets returned and men who had come to a splitting of the way and chosen the right fork. He saw a thousand random meetings that weren't random, ten thousand right decisions, a hundred thousand right answers, a million acts of unacknowledged kindness."

Tuesday, February 01, 2005

shutting down? nope. i'm just on vacation. settle down people.

the next part is actually from a message sent to a particularly sassy person in london via myspace, also known as internetcrack

i spent the morning at the council on foreign relations, then walked around central park in the snow, took pictures of ice skaters and got stared at by some creepy kid cos perhaps i look a bit creepy myself what with my camera and giant wool hat with the pompom on top and the elephant ear flaps. then went to play with the toys in the worlds greatest toy store (i got free milkshake!). after the playing of the giant keyboard, the riding of the segway, and the purchasing of ugly dolls, i proceeded to the worlds greatest rare bookshop to play with antique prints and maps. this is also where i left said ugly dolls and will thus have to return. all was followed by burrito and texan beer at the rodeo bar. i finished the day with a stellar dental checkup.

the council on foreign relations was exciting, particularly since the advisor was speaking and i got to watch him blow all these folks away. interestingly enough most of the people there were from the world of business and finance. very very interesting.